OTTERVILLE GIRLS: Eagles lose program's all-time leading scorer

For the second straight year, the Otterville girls basketball team lost its all-time leading scorer.

The Eagles lost Megan Benny after the 2005-06 season and will be without Kallie Shirky, who broke Benny’s mark last January.

Shirky averaged around 19 points and nine rebounds a game last season, finishing her career with 1,545 points.

However, the Eagles return their No. 2 scoring threat from last season, Marci Simmons, who averaged 13 points a game last season.

Simmons played point guard, often delivering the ball inside to Shirky. She will be asked to shoot more this season if the Eagles want to repeat as Cooper County Athletic Association co-champions.

While she won’t be the third girl to break the scoring record in as many years, she will likely surpass the 1,000-point mark.

“Scoring 1,500 points is pretty tough to do,” Otterville coach Ashley Groepper said.

Macheznie Craig, Mickaela Holem, Ashley Homan, Sheena Langton, Alex Siegel and Kaiti Siegel return from a team that went 18-8 overall and 11-1 in the conference.

Groepper expects varsity newcomers Cristy Comfort, Kayla Griffin and Destiny Zeornes to contribute.

Groepper likes her team’s quickness and believes she’ll have numerous options to help fill the void of Shirky inside. The coach expects Holem and Kaiti Siegel to contribute more on offense.

“We need some combination of people to step up,” Groepper said.